Theme (narrative)

About: Theme (narrative) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 13050 publications have been published within this topic receiving 159511 citations. The topic is also known as: narrative theme.

Scaling Effects in Historical Biogeography: A New View of Space, Time, and Form

Abstract: -The metaphor "Space, Time, Form: The Biological Synthesis" has proven to be valuable in the development of theory and method in biogeography. It has also helped polarize biogeographers. In an attempt to unify the polarized positions and promote cooperation and appreciation among scientists with different special interests, yet another view of Space, Time, and Form is offered. Ecological and historical biogeography can be seen as portions of a contin*uum that relates temporal and spatial scaling effects in the production of biomass and diversity. The utility of this non-reductionist view is illustrated using a study of Neotropical freshwater stingrays and their parasites. [Biogeography; scaling effects; unified theory of evolution.] Productive research programs are characterized by a central theme or metaphor that provides a cohesive common reference point for researchers. In some cases, the metaphor becomes a leitmotif, a recurring theme that serves as its own rationale. In the past decade, one such leitmotif has emerged in biogeography and evolutionary biology. Croizat (1964) coined the theme metaphorically as "Space, Time, Form: The Biological Synthesis." Croizat combined recurring geographic distribution patterns for different groups of organisms with a form of orthogenetic evolution. A decade later, Nelson and Rosen (Croizat et al., 1974) coupled the search for recurring biogeographic patterns with a genealogically-based method and view of evolution. Despite this shift in methods of analysis and mode of evolutionary explanation, Croizat's original metaphor retained its utility as a unifying theme. A positive result of these developments has been a renewed interest in historical biogeography and what such studies might indicate about evolution in general. A negative result has been a schism between ecologically-minded and systematicallyminded biogeographers (see, e.g., Rosen and Nelson, 1981). The purpose of this paper is to suggest that Croizat's metaphor can be used as a leitmotif to help re-forge a synthesis between ecological and historical biogeography. As in the case of Croizat's original formulation and Nelson and Rosen's later modification, this view uses a particular concept in evolution. In this case, the concept is scaling effects in space and time as they relate to the production and maintenance of biological form. THE BIOLOGICAL ECONOMY The combination of "production" by biological systems and "exchanges" between such systems and their surroundings forms the biological economy. The production component comprises (1) "waste" (physiological dissipation), (2) "product" (biomass), and (3) "machinery" (genetic and epigenetic information). It is the arena of replicators. The exchange component represents the intersection of all environmental resources and the useful resources as determined by what it takes to "run the machinery." It is the arena of interactors. The source of these machinery requirements is the machinery plus the product (i.e., the genetically diverse biomass). The sources of the environmental resources are (1) abiotic materials and energy, (2) physiological dissipation ("waste"), and (3) biomass ("product"), since some organisms require other organisms as energy sources. The exchange component, which represents the source of energy and matter for living systems, is the ecological hierarchy (Salthe, 1985; Brooks and Wiley, 1988). The

Wisdom in James: An Argument for the Discourse Theme

Abstract: "Wisdom in James: An Argument for the Discourse Theme" Chiaen Liu McMaster Divinity College Hamilton, Ontario Master of Arts, 2013 There are many debates in the field of interpreting the book of James and there is no consensus among scholars. Some propose that this book is a paraenesis, whereas others argue for its inner coherence. On the basis of these disagreements, however, different scholars propose diverse themes for this book. This work attempts to view the book of James has a linguistic approach to identify its cohesion and its discourse theme. After providing a brief introduction to the understanding of cohesion based on the model of Systemic Functional Linguistics, this thesis represents a model of discourse analysis, seeking for the cohesion in this book and arguing that wisdom is the discourse theme of James through an analysis of the cohesive ties between James 3:13-18 and the rest of the discourses.

"You are a number, not a human being": Israeli breast cancer patients' experiences with the medical establishment.

Abstract: In the course of interviews with Israeli women who had recently been treated for breast cancer, we found that our informants tended to offer us "treatment narratives" rather than, or sometimes in addition to, the "illness narratives" made famous by Arthur Kleinman. For the women we interviewed, treatment narratives constitute verbal platforms on which to explore what it means to be human during a period in which one's body, spirit, and social identity are undergoing intense transformations. A central theme in these narratives is the Hebrew word yachas, loosely translated as "attitude," "attention," or "relationship." The women consistently contrasted the good yachas of medical staff who treated them "like humans" or like "real friends" with the bad yachas of staff who treated them like numbers, machines, or strangers. We argue that the women used language (in various contexts) as a means of resisting the medical culture's pattern of treating patients as "nonhumans."

Variations on a Persian Theme: Adaptation and Innovation in Early Manuscripts from Golconda

Abstract: Variations on a Persian Theme: Adaptation and Innovation in Early Manuscripts from Golconda

The Ability to Love – a Virtue-Based Approach

Abstract: Abraham Maslow (1954) was amazed of the scarcity of research on love. According to Maslow (1954, p. 235), it was surprising how little empiric sciences had to offer to the theme. Especially weird in his opinion was the silence of psychologists because studying love should have been their special responsibility. Maslow thought that the situation possibly originated in academic researchers’ besetting sin: they would rather do what is easy than what is necessary. Research on love and emotions has been taken with suspicious and even the facts that people behave in relation to other people and that people live in the net of human relationships from birth to death have not furthered the research (Berscheid, 2006).